Friday, February 8, 2013

The Kingdom of God in your Midst

“Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
“The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Wherever two or three are gathered in my name…
Too often when we hear “kingdom of God” we begin to contemplate the eschaton, Christ’s second coming. The kingdom of God is so much more. We do not have to wait for the second coming to enjoy the kingdom of God. No the kingdom of God breaks into the here and now through faith. It is by faith that we believe Jesus is our Lord, that Jesus is Lord. And so he rules in the hearts of the faithful, he reigns. But his reign is different than any earthly kingdom. He reigns in the forgiveness of sins to be found wherever two or three are gathered in his name, around the sacraments he has given the church where he invites us into his heavenly court through baptism and the Lord’s Supper to be forgiven our sins. In the end, the forgiveness of sins is his kingdom, and it is in our midst even now where he is found.

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My Morning Devotions, or Justification for a Pastor's Blog

I decided I need, maybe to post more often. My last year in seminary, I took a life saver of a class from Prof. Pless called the “Pastor’s Devotional Life.” In this class he suggested that a pastor’s devotions ought to be creative, in that something should be created out of them.I spend every morning in prayer and devotion, study. And I normally don’t look at the day to day of the office, Sermons, Bible Studies, visits, etc. until at the earliest mid morning. I find after spending time feeding myself from the green pasture of God’s word, I have a lot more with which to feed the sheep entrusted to me. These posts on this blog will be the fruits of my morning study, my breakfast from which I get my nourishment. I don’t want this to get complicated, it's breakfast not dinner. But I am willing to share my breakfast with you. Just thoughts that I have here and there as I read through the Greek New Testament, or the Book of Concord in German, or whatever else I happen to read in my morning devotions. Expect the musings to be eclectic.